Introduction

Here is a tool for the use of your own applications that NHibernate. You can easily install and use this helper kit. To download, please click the link at the top of the page. If you are using NHibernate, you need to write a lot of persistent classes and XML mapping for each persistent class. Also, you need to write the NHibernate config file. At this point, using this tool, you can automatically create all these files in a few seconds.

Installing

After you download the installation files, unzip the file and open the folder. Then, you will see the following:

Setup.exe (shortcut): You can install the add-in via this installer.

Files (folder): All the needed files are here.

Open setup.exe and you will see the following interface:

Click Run, and it will install itself; it will take a few seconds.

Using

After the installation, run Visual Studio 2005 and go to the Tools menu. You will see an add-in that is named Avva Mobile NHibernate Helper Kit BETA. There are four tab screens on the tool.

Connection: This screen allows you to connect your database with connection parameters. It looks like the Visual Studio connection wizard. You need to set some parameters to connect to your database.

Tables & Columns: This screen allows you to browse a selected database's tables and select them to create files. Also, if you want, you can see a table's column information by selecting from a table from a list and clicking "Preview Columns".

Settings: This screen allows you to select some features, for example, copy the NHibernate DLL and use dynamic updates. Also, you have to select your project folder to configure the folders, namespaces, and assembly names.

Generate: At the end of this, we can start the generate process. Just click Run and wait a few seconds. You can view all the process details in this section.

After you've successfully completed the generating process, you can see the generated files in the project folder. If you selected "Copy NHibernate DLL to project" and other DLLs, the generator will copy it and create an NHibernate config file in your project's "bin" folder.

Also, the generator creates a folder named App_Code in your project folder to put persistent classes and mapping files in. It directly creates persistent classes to App_Code, and mapping files creates them in the NHMappings folder, as follows:

It seems it was designed to be a standalone application. While add-in is good, but keeping it uptodate is a little problematic. I could add a main class and remove the extra threading thing to make it run standlaone.

For first sorry for my English...
After run this tool nothing was working so..
Step1
My Xp is in italian so I have cheched all my path coping
C:\program files\Avva Mobile Enterprise Solutions\NHibernate Helper Kit that i changed - in
C:\Programmi\Avva Mobile Enterprise Solutions\NHibernate Helper Kit
Step2 I found the tool
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\belgelerim\Visual Studio 2005\Addins and and i copied in
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Documenti\Visual Studio 2005\Addins
after this I cliked on the right path of the addin ( C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Documenti\Visual Studio 2005\Addins)
Step3
I opened visual sudio tools in addin menagement and now there was the addin but didn't work
so i opened the addin in the installation directory and with notepad i changed the path in "programmi" and i launched the setup again
Step4
After that the addin was running
I changed the authentication of the sqlserver2000 instance in "windows and Sql Autenthication "
and so I could see this tool working!!
I hope it is useful

I cannot use this tool..
It took me 2 hours to install it (to understand I had to add the plug in by mylself on vs), now, It is in VS but when I click on an listbox, the GUI disapears... !!! completely bugged...
Does anyone advice another tool?
Bye
----------------------
Humm, I finally found the way of using gui to make it not "disapear" , I'm currently generating my tables, I will report here my conclusion

Is there CodeSmith templates to generate mapping files ? I know there is a some templates to generate mapping file from a table but I cannot find a template to generate a mapping file from the classes...

i installed nHibernate helper kit ,and it appears on my tools menu,so i want use this helper kit in my application ,i dont know how to use please tell me the steps to use this helper kit in my application

Hi,
the description of the tool sounds very promising - but for me it's still just theoretical, I can't get it running with Vista.
The files and settings are as described in your post from last August, the Add-In-Manager shows it, but it doesn't appear in the Tools-list.
Do you have a hint for me?

Hi,
i've installed the NhibernateHelperBeta and it was successfuly installed, but i can't find it in the Tools menu of VS 2005 and i can't find also this Folder " c:\documents and setting\YOUR USERNAME\my documents\Visual Studio 2005\Addins\AvvaMobileNHibernateHelperKit - For Testing.AddIn
"
pleaaaaaase Help me
thank u

I found the folder "Addins\AvvaMobileNHibernateHelperKit - For Testing.AddIn" somewhere else and i put it in "c:\documents and setting\YOUR USERNAME\my documents\Visual Studio 2005" but it still dose'nt working, i can't found it in the menu tools of VS 2005

unfortunately it is not possible to install the kit on VS2005 version 8 on a WindowsXP (SP2) system. The installation works fine, but there doe not appear anything new in tools. If one uses the src files, it does not wortk, too, because some files can not be found. After renaming of all of these files, it says installation went fine, but again nothing appears.

I have some problem to use this addin.
I must add the directory addins and the file AvvaMobileNHibernateHelperKit - For Testing.AddIn to my Vs 2005 directory.
When I run vs 2005, I see in tools menu the item "Hibernate Helper" but I can't click on because it's showing in grey.
Why ?
Best regards.